UPPER GWYNEDD — Residents who live near the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Upper Gwynedd have plenty of questions about the upcoming road widening project coming up close to their back yards, and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission officials and the contractors are ready to start those conversations.

“Whatever we can do to give you as much information as possible, we will do our best to do,” said PTC spokeswoman Mimi Doyle.

“This is us telling you the project is starting,” she said.

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Doyle and a team of construction officials have been reaching out in recent weeks to the four area municipalities that will soon see construction on the widening of the Northeast Extension between roughly milepost 26 near Bethel Road to about a mile past the Lansdale interchange in Towamencin, touching on parts of Worcester and Lower Salford townships in addition to Upper Gwynedd and Towamencin.

Doyle and Project Manager Bill Muzika of Worcester-based contractor Allan A. Myers, the low bidder for the $198 million reconstruction and widening project, said a construction kickoff meeting will be held on May 14 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Towamencin Volunteer Fire Company’s Bustard Road firehouse (1590 Bustard Road) to present formal plans to residents, and that same week lanes on the current turnpike will be narrowed to allow for shoulder construction to begin.

“Around May 12, that week weather permitting, we’ll start setting up barriers around the mainline turnpike restricting traffic to two 12-foot lanes for three-quarters of the project. That will allow us to get started with our full blown activities over the next three to four months,” Muzika said.

Starting in mid-July the bridge carrying Bustard Road over the turnpike will be closed in order for the current bridge to be removed and a new, wider bridge to be built. Detour routes will be posted, and emergency vehicles will have access to the turnpike itself via a new emergency ramp that will be constructed before the bridge closes, he said.

Workers have begun to put stakes along the right-of-way property lines between homes bordering the project and PTC land itself, and several residents — who said they live in the area of Tricorn Drive and Musket Drive, on streets that run parallel to the planned widening — asked if the stakes mean they’ll be losing land in their backyards.

“That’s the property the (turnpike) Commission currently owns. If our flagging is there, that’s based off of the data that the commission currently owns” land as it is being surveyed, he said.

Several residents along those streets asked if their yards would see the construction of sound walls or of a landscaped berm to buffer their yards from the turnpike itself. The exact plans have only been finalized in the last few months since the construction contract was awarded, according to Muzika and Doyle, and will be up for display for specific questions from residents during the May 14 construction kickoff meeting.

The earthen berm runs roughly 3,000 feet between gaps in a retaining wall and was placed in that area because the right-of-way separating the widened turnpike and the nearby houses has enough lateral space to fit a berm. Doyle and Muzika offered to meet with the residents in that area behind their homes to walk the property line together with the contractor team and identify any concerns, and said neighbors with issues are welcome to visit a construction office that will soon be constructed between Sumneytown Pike and the Lansdale Interchange where project officials will be based.

“We will work with the residents and the property owners to complete our project in a safe, efficient manner. We can’t change anything on the drawings unless directed by the commission, but we’re more than glad to work with you folks” to answer specific questions, Muzika said.

Upper Gwynedd commissioners President Ken Kroberger said the township informed the residents of the meet-and-greet by the turnpike team Monday night in order to facilitate meetings in the area of the construction, and said the PTC team is welcome to use the township administration building for future meetings, and township staff will post any information from PTC related to that part of the project on its website www.UpperGwynedd.org.

“I think you’ll get a lot of questions,” Kroberger said, gesturing to the turnpike officials, “and hopefully they get a lot of answers.”

Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on May 13 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.